This week is Māori Language Week/Te Wiki o te Reo Māori and in celebration I am posting daily for the next 5 days with a picture. For some time I have endeavoured to caption my images with both the English and Māori names and it pleases me that the the latest Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand released at the Birds New Zealand Conference in June now officially includes both names. In addition this is also the first time that the checklist has been published in digital form only. I see these both as signs of progress.

I find more and more that my brain pops out the Māori name for a bird when I see it and this brings me joy. An old dog learning new tricks as it were. There are some dinosaurs that see it as a threat and a few, who in their death throes, have sufficient twitch in their fingers still to write to the media complaining. I would encourage them to embrace the richness and pleasure that an alternative perspective can bring to our experience of the wonders of the world.

This week I am going to make it easy. Only 1 Māori word to learn – Toroa. All Albatross are known as Toroa so we will use repetition as a learning tool and hopefully by the end of the week the word will leap to mind every time you see an Albatross. Friday’s post will add another word to extend the advanced students!